Today I will talk about why I’m so annoyed with taking public transport at times. I never had much displeasure with public transport but recently, my irritability w.r.t trains/buses have increased exponentially.
Let’s first take a look at our public buses:
I never really enjoyed taking buses because I feel that they are dirty (especially the really old buses) and you never know what had been placed on the seats, if anything was spilled on it beforehand (because there are people who eat/drink on the bus whereas it’s strictly disallowed on trains now), if some kid stepped on the seats, if the person who sat on the seat before you was wet and sweaty…etc etc.
The possibilities are endless, I might be overly-paranoid, but generally buses give me the impression of being dirty! For one, I’m quite a hygiene freak and the smell/stench on certain old buses really makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t have much problems with new buses (with the newly-furbished smell) though!
What I hate the most is that during peak hours, we can never seem to get on the bus, and more often than not, only the front of the bus is packed like sardines while there’s actually lots of gaps and space towards the back of the bus but no one wants to move in. (This reminds me of the times in Secondary school where the bus uncle would shout “后面有鬼是吗?” [Are there ghosts at the back?] to get those inconsiderate people to move back and create space for the people in front).
Also, usually if you’re stuck at the back of the bus, it’s almost impossible to squeeze through the thousand and one people along the aisle to get to the exit, and I find it such a hassle to keep saying “Excuse me” and repeat it 1017247 times before people make way for you. Sometimes, we even miss our stop because of that; the bus driver isn’t aware that you’re still trying to squeeze through to make it to the door and he drives off…
During peak hours, it’s also extremely hard to balance when the bus accelerates and stops suddenly, and the entire journey is so jerky! Especially for us students carrying laptops and standing, it’s even harder to balance or try to grab onto the handle (oh and I also find the handle pretty gross to grab when i see loads of fingerprints on it!! OCD I know). I don’t like the feeling of skin touching skin, and having someone’s butt rub against yours when the bus is so squeezy!!!
And the most pressing issue: Buses are never on time during peak hours.
When I have 9am classes, no matter how early I leave home, I can never seem to catch the bus!! Instead of taking 20 minutes to get from Harbourfront to Heng Mui Keng Terrace, I end up taking at least 35 minutes it’s ridiculous. In addition, it takes like 5 minutes for the bus to leave the bus stop to cater for the 17231650 people boarding and alighting. There’s a need to increase the frequency of buses during morning rush hours!
Now let’s move on to the MRTs.
I’m generally fine with taking trains and in fact I think it’s the only public transport I enjoy taking. For one, trains are hardly ever delayed, during peak hours the trains come every 3 minutes or so, and trains won’t ever get stuck in heavy traffic! Taking trains are also extremely convenient as Singapore is so well linked-up by all the different lines we now have!
However, there are still countless number of Singaporeans who do not understand the meaning of being considerate.
It’s extremely annoying when the carriage is already full and people still try to squeeze in, thinking that they only take up 1cm of space or something. Seriously, you’re just making things more difficult for everyone else who’s already squeezing in the crowded cabin. Do you actually feel good about being squashed amongst the crowd, smelling people’s BO, and causing others to be plastered against the glass panels?! What’s worse is that some of these people just stay rooted to their position, refusing to get outta the train to allow others inside to get off. How daft?!
Also, I don’t understand why some people attempt to run into the carriages when the doors have already started to close. And then they complain about getting hurt by the door. Hello, this is the result of your own actions. The next train is just at most a 6 minutes’ wait. In addition, when you or your bag gets caught by the door, it holds up the hundreds of other people on the train because the train doors can’t close properly and the train can’t leave until that problem is solved. I think what’s worse is that it will be painful when the train doors slam on you, so why take the risk? Yeah yeah you may be in a rush but so is everyone else.
I shall not discuss about people who refuse to give up seats to the needy.
Recently, there are really annoying announcements on the NEL trains. It goes something like this:
“Attention to all passenger (hello? where’s the plural?), for your own safety, preese do not lean against the train doors. Tank U. (obviously, bad english)“
Hearing it being repeated 10 times on my way to school EVERYDAY is extremely painful on our poor ears.
There are also a couple of other versions I’ve heard this week:
1. “Attention passenger (again, plural!?!), preese do not lean against the doors. Thank You”
2. “Attention to all passengers, please do not lean against on (what is against on?!?!) the train doors”
Seriously, the English is so bad that I doubt our tourists can understand what the announcer is saying at all. If you want to warn passengers and are truly concerned about their safety, please at least let someone who can speak fluent English and enunciate his/her words clearly to make them. Perhaps it’s even better to just get the lady who does all the regular announcements on the trains to record it. Another issue, why is the announcement only in English? Especially where the NEL trains have a huge number of elderly passengers, why not make them in our other national languages too?
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Alright I think that’s enough for the day.
I’m sure there are many others who concur, and many others who have more to say about our public transport woes, and we can go on and on forever…but I shall not waste my energy on these frustrations!
Because at the end of the day, without our public transport system, Singapore wouldn’t be so accessible and convenient to get from place to place. And after visiting so many cities last year, I still appreciate our transport system. What’s important is that our people do not abuse the system, and learn to be more considerate so that everyone gets to enjoy his/her public transport experience.
Maybe it’s due to my love for Japanese cuisine, or perhaps it’s inspiration from my Itadakimasu class…whatever reason it is, I’ve recently developed an intense interest in preparing Japanese food! I’ve been telling the boyfriend about it and it made him all excited to try out my Jap cooking! 
And Prague was definitely one of the most beautiful cities I’ve visited last year.
